The Witch's Curse

by Jordan Quinn

  Lucas held up his hand to Ruskin. “No!” he said firmly.

  Ruskin settled down.

  “Good boy.”

  “Can I get you both a spot of tea?” asked the witch.

  “No, thank you,” said Lucas. “We’re here to learn more about the rain curse. We want to find out who’s behind it.”

  The witch’s smile disappeared. Then she waggled a bony finger at the children.

  “You children must not get involved in matters of evil,” said the witch. “It could put you in great danger.”

  “Then so be it,” said Lucas, who wasn’t about to let the witch scare him.

  The witch stroked Odin’s feathers. “You’re a brave boy,” she said. “Tell me, do you think you know who did it?”

  “Of course I do,” said Lucas. “Grom is behind it.”

  The witch’s smile returned. “And what makes you think it’s Grom?” she asked.

  Lucas folded his arms. “It has something to do with Ruskin’s eggshells,” he said. “Grom took them after Ruskin hatched.”

  The witch’s eyes widened and her glass eye swirled aimlessly.

  “I see you are very clever, Prince Lucas,” she said. “The scarlet dragon eggshells could have something to do with the rain curse.”

  “You see!” said Lucas, looking at Clara. “It is Grom!”

  Clara nodded. “Then what do we do now?” she asked.

  “There’s only one thing to do,” the witch said. “You must go to Grom’s castle tower and bring me Ruskin’s eggshells. Then I will reverse the curse.”

  “If we get the eggshells,” said Lucas, “will you accept them as payment—instead of my family’s ring and scepter?”

  “Retrieve the eggshells first!” demanded the witch. “Then perhaps I will lower my price.”

  Then she cackled with delight.

  Grom’s Workshop

  * * *

  * * *

  Lucas, Clara, and Ruskin zigzagged across the rocks of the burping bog. Then they jumped into their saddles. Rain poured down as they galloped across the bridge to Primlox. They left the horses in a public stable and boarded a ship to Hobsgrove.

  The castle on Hobsgrove had one tower. Steam swirled from a smokestack on the side of it.

  “Grom’s workshop is up there,” Lucas said, pointing.

  They hurried toward the tower. Clara tried the latch on the door.

  “It’s locked,” she said.

  “No problem,” Lucas said. “Watch this.”

  Lucas clapped his hands twice. Immediately, Ruskin stood on his hind legs and rested his front claws on the door. He lined his mouth up with the lock. Then he flicked his forked tongue inside the keyhole. The lock clicked and the door swung open.

  Ruskin squawked.

  “Good boy!” praised Lucas, patting his dragon on the head.

  “What a great trick!” Clara said.

  “Thanks,” said Lucas. “We’ve had lots of time to work on it with all this rain.”

  They crept inside the cold, dimly lit tower and shut the door. Then they walked up the winding staircase before them. Around and around they went as they climbed the stairs to the top of the tower. The door to the workshop was open. Lucas peeked inside.

  “Nobody’s here,” he whispered.

  “Phew!” said Clara.

  They tiptoed into the musty lab and looked around. A cauldron bubbled over the large stone fireplace. Next to the hearth was a bellows to stoke the fire. A long table with a scale on it stood in the middle of the room. A fat book lay open to a page titled “Weather Spells.” More proof, Lucas thought.

  Vessels, potion bottles, and flasks lined shelves throughout the room. Torches flamed in their holders, and some natural light came in through the windows on either side of the room. Ruskin began to sniff around. Lucas pulled open a drawer of a large chest. Clara took a look at the vessels on the table. She found herbs, fish bones, and ground seashells inside them.

  Then Ruskin squawked.

  “Shhh!” shushed Lucas. “Someone might hear us!”

  Ruskin sniffed a ceramic bowl on the table in front of him.

  He squawked again.

  Lucas shut the drawer and hurried over. “What is it, boy?”

  Ruskin nudged the bowl with his nose. Lucas looked inside.

  “Clara!” cried Lucas. “Look what Ruskin found!”

  Clara hurried across the room and looked in the bowl. “Ruskin’s eggshells!” she exclaimed.

  “Quick, put them in here,” said Lucas, holding out an empty jar.

  Suddenly a large shadow loomed over them.

  “Put down the magic eggshells!” boomed a voice from the doorway.

  Magic Powder

  * * *

  * * *

  “What are you doing in my workshop?” shouted Grom as he slammed the door behind him.

  Lucas held on tightly to the jar. Ruskin whined and hid behind Lucas. The children backed away and bumped into a chest. Grom pointed a long, skinny finger at Lucas.

  “You are trespassing!” he said. “I demand to know why you’re here.”

  Lucas took a deep breath and stood as tall as he could. Then he pointed a finger right back at Grom.

  “It’s all your fault!” he cried. “We know you cursed Wrenly with a never-ending rainstorm, and now we have proof.”

  Grom’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

  “You think I did what?”

  “Cursed the land,” said Lucas.

  “Why on earth do you think I would do such a thing?” Grom asked.

  Lucas hadn’t expected Grom to be surprised. He had expected him to be furious at being found out. Lucas began to list the reasons why he thought Grom was guilty.

  “Well, because you’re grumpy all the time,” Lucas said. “And you took the magical eggshells. And your spell book is open to a weather page. And not only that, the Witch of Bogburp thinks you did it too!”

  Grom shook his head sadly.

  “I have been saving those dragon eggshells for a rainy day,” he said as he looked out the window and watched the rain drip down the glass. Then he looked back at the children. “My brother, André, and I have served the king in good faith for many years,” he said. “We have given him our very best.” Grom slumped.

  Lucas suddenly began to feel sorry for blaming the curse on Grom. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry you think I would do such a terrible thing,” Grom said, looking down at the floor.

  Before Lucas could say anything, Grom grabbed the dragon eggshells and crushed them into a fine powder. He scooped the powder into a small glass jar and handed it to Lucas.

  “Do you know what the eggshells of a scarlet dragon can do?”

  Lucas and Clara shook their heads.

  “They have the power to still a storm,” said Grom.

  Lucas looked at the powder. Now he didn’t know who to believe.

  “Then who cursed the kingdom?” he asked.

  Grom ran his hand over his beard. “When you visited the Witch of Bogburp, did you see anything unusual in her house?”

  “Not really,” said Lucas.

  “Well, there was something weird about her walking stick,” said Clara. “The raven was perched on it, and it made a funny sound when the raven flew away.”

  “What did it sound like?” Grom asked.

  “It sounded like a waterfall of seeds,” Clara said.

  Grom snapped his fingers.

  “That’s the sound of a rain stick,” he said. “A rain stick has the power to make it rain.”

  “And that means the witch lied to us,” said Lucas.

  “Perhaps it’s time to teach that miserable witch a lesson,” said Grom.

  Today’s Weather

  * * *

  * * *

  The next day the king summoned the witch to the palace.

  “What’s all the fuss about, Your Majesty?” asked the witch.

  “Allow me to examine your walking stick,”
the king said sternly.

  “But, Your Majesty, I need the stick to stand up,” the witch said.

  “Grom, please give Tilda a helping hand,” said King Caleb.

  Grom held the witch by the arm and loosened her grasp on the walking stick. Odin flew from the stick and onto the witch’s shoulder. Then Grom handed the walking stick to the king. The king turned the stick upside down. It made the sound of falling seeds.

  “Grom tells me this is a rain stick,” said the king.

  “That’s ridiculous,” said the witch. “It’s nothing more than a cane to lean on and a perch for my raven.”

  King Caleb snapped his fingers.

  Lucas walked to an open window and shook the scarlet dragon eggshell powder into the air. The rain stopped and the clouds began to roll back. Rays of sunshine broke through the clouds, and a rainbow arched over the kingdom. Then the king turned his attention back to the witch and narrowed his eyes.

  “Why did you do such wickedness?” he asked.

  The witch’s shoulders slumped.

  “I was going to make the rain stop eventually,” she said, “but I liked all the attention.”

  “Why did you do it in the first place?” asked the king.

  The witch sighed. “If I made it look like I stopped the rain, then you would have thought of me as a hero,” she said. “And then you would have welcomed me back to the castle.”

  “What a crazy idea!” said the king. “And you would’ve gotten our riches in the process!”

  The witch crumpled to her knees. “I’m sorry,” she said as tears welled in her eyes. “I got a bit carried away. It’s just that I get so lonely and bored in the bog.”

  “You will be punished,” said the king.

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” the witch said, wiping a tear off her face.

  “You must help the farmers save their crops,” said the king. “If you do well, I will see about a better job for you.”

  The witch smiled slightly. “At least now I’ll have a reason to leave my tree house.”

  Then Lucas raised his hand.

  “Yes?” said the king.

  “I’d like to apologize,” he said.

  The king nodded.

  Lucas turned toward Grom. “I’m sorry I blamed you for something when I didn’t have any proof.”

  Grom smiled. “All is forgiven, Your Grace.”

  “Thank you, Grom,” said Lucas. Then Ruskin squawked.

  “And what did you learn, Ruskin?” asked the king.

  Ruskin scampered to a nearby door and flicked open the lock with his forked tongue. The door swung open.

  “My goodness,” said the king.

  Then everyone clapped and cheered.

  Hear ye! Hear ye! Presenting the next book from The Kingdom of Wrenly! Here’s a sneak peek!

  “Son,” began King Caleb.

  Lucas hated it when his father began with the word “son.” It rarely ended well.

  “This time, you and your mischievous dragon have gone too far,” said the king. “You have destroyed Cook’s ice and possibly all the food in the larder. Tell me, how could you be so thoughtless?”

  Lucas looked at his boots.

  “It has become clear that the castle is no place for a dragon,” the king went on. “I never should have allowed it.”

  King Caleb then looked to Queen Tasha for support. The queen nodded for him to go on.

  “You have given me no choice,” said the king. “Ruskin will have to return to Crestwood for proper training.”

  Lucas lifted his head and stared at his father in disbelief.

  “No, Father! Please don’t take Ruskin away!” he cried. “I promise I’ll be better about training him.”

  The king’s face did not soften. “I’m afraid you are both in need of training,” he declared. “As punishment for your reckless behavior, you and Ruskin will go to Flatfrost first thing in the morning.”

  “Flatfrost!” cried Lucas. “But why?”

  “I want you to apologize to the giants,” said the king.

  “For what?” questioned Lucas.

  “You have caused them more work,” said the king. “Therefore you will apologize, and you will also help harvest more ice for Cook.”

  “But, Father!” protested Lucas.

  “No buts,” said the king. “You must learn to fix your own mistakes. And when you return, Ruskin will go to Crestwood for training.”

  Lucas frowned at his father. Then he ran to his room and slammed his door as hard as he could.

  JORDAN QUINN grew up in a fairy-tale castle in England. It had a spiral stone staircase, a moat, and a dungeon. As a child she liked to play hide-and-go-seek and ride her beloved horse, Prince Charming. When she wasn’t riding, she wrote stories about fairies, trolls, dragons, and wizards. Today, Jordan lives on a ranch in California with her husband, son, and a golden retriever named Sir Toots-a-Lot.

  ROBERT MCPHILLIPS has been involved in a wide variety of projects over the years—from illustrating greeting cards to animation. But he has always loved children’s books, and after many years he has turned his attention back to that. Robert makes his home in Wiltshire, England, with his wife, Sam, and their beloved cat, Silkie, who rules the roost.

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster

  New York

  Meet the author and illustrator and get activities at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Jordan-Quinn

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Robert-McPhillips

  KingdomofWrenlyBooks.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Little Simon edition August 2014

  Copyright © 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Quinn, Jordan.

  The witch’s curse / by Jordan Quinn ; illustrated by Robert McPhillips.

  Jacket design by Laura Roode

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  — First edition.

  pages cm. — (The kingdom of Wrenly ; 4)

  Summary: “It’s been raining nonstop for six whole days. Someone has cursed the kingdom of Wrenly! Can Lucas and Clara figure out who’s behind the evil spell and stop the villain before it’s too late?”

  — Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-4814-0075-6 (pbk) — ISBN 978-1-4814-0076-3 (hc) — ISBN 978-1-4814-0077-0 (eBook) [1. Princes—Fiction.

  2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Rain and rainfall—Fiction. 4. Blessing and cursing—Fiction. 5. Magic—Fiction.] I. McPhillips, Robert, illustrator.

  II. Title.

  PZ7.Q31945Wi 2014

  [Fic]—dc23

  2013028259

 

 

 
grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share